The Feilding Star. TUESDAY AUGUST 7, 1883. How Trade is Affected.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 27, 7 August 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY AUGUST 7, 1883. How Trade is Affected.

The Colonial Treasurer, when spoakinir in the Hoiine of Uei>resf-imuive-< with regard to the present linanoial condition ot the Colony, denied altogether lhat there was any general financial depression, and as a proof of the general sown 'ness mentioned that, although for many years past during the winter there had been always a cry of large numbers of people out of employment, there had been no complaints during- the winter now passinr away. What the Treasurer said is borne out by the facts of the case. We will now endeavor to show why there has been no real suffering among those who are the first to feel the pr-'ssurp of bad times and consequent want of work. Since last Christmas there has been a steady increase in the number of recruits who have ioined the ranks of the Hlue Ribbon Army, and the lists of n embers ot ... cither organisations tor the promotion of temperance have been added to in: an equal proportion. The totaUnurnber of all classes who are total abstainers in the Colony may be estimated at say 25,000, aud a majority of these belong to the working or laboring classes. It is not too much to say that since the beginning ot the year a total sura ot £250,000, which would last year have been wasted in drink, has been expended in the purchase of the real necessaries of life. This added to the £30,000 excess of withdrawals over deposits with the Post Office Savings Bank during the financial year will" show the real reason why there .are no complaints of poverty. The men who cry out with the most reason are the hotel-keepers in the large towns, who are dependant on their bar trade to pay heavy rents' and taxes. .This source of revenue being largely cu^ oiF, makes it hard tor them to • meet their engagements with that ease and comfort which obtained a year ago. Ihe Blue Ribbon men say it is better to work for themselves than the benefit of the licensed victualler, the wholesale dealer, or the brewer.-' A large sum of money, nearly £300,U00 a year, • drawn from one article of commerce, must touch the' pockets of the class that profits alone by the trade', while it benefits the workers who have earned or created the money, by its being spent wisely in good-and useful articles or put away for a rainy riayj Dealers in all other kinds of "oods derive benefit and profit in a ratio nearly in exact proportion to the decrease in the consumption ot'spirituous or fermented liquor. This rule -will also apply to the fiscal revenue of the Colony. The advantages which are daily accruing to the Colony by the cultivation of habits of abstemiousness, encouraged by the example of the Blue Ribbon Army, are quite, equal to the discovery of a new gold field: